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2.4. Appointment reminder systems
Millions of GP and nurse appointments are missed every year. This amounts to millions of pounds worth of wasted NHS resources. There are many ways in which you can reduce your ‘did not attends’ (DNAs) and help to educate patients on their responsibilities. One of the most effective is a simple system that sends the patient a text message, a day or two beforehand, to remind them of their appointment.
Benefits
- Systems have been shown to reduce DNAs by up to 50%.
- Most products are compatible with most GP systems.
- Messages can be personalised.
- Systems are secure and confidential.
- Can be used for targeted health campaigns, eg informing patients of flu jabs or smoking cessation clinics.
- Can be used to engage with hard-to reach patients, including the young and socially excluded.
- Multi-lingual – most systems include language templates so that your messages reach non-English speaking audiences.
- Systems can send one-off messages to individuals or groups of patients.
- Reduces administration costs for printing and postage.
Drawbacks
- Relies on the practice keeping up-to date patient mobile phone numbers.
- Some patients may not want to be contacted by the practice.
- Not a complete solution – this won’t eradicate DNAs totally.
- Some patients don’t know their mobile numbers, while others forget to tell the practice when they change their number.
Costs
There are many suppliers, and costs vary. Some systems that use Connecting for Health’s NHSmail system are free. Some GP system suppliers are also now beginning to offer such functionality within their software.
Tip
If you use delivery reports, this enables reception staff to check if a patient has received the message or whether their number might need updating.
Allow patients to text back to cancel their appointment to free up the telephone line.
Case studies
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